Concentrator-belt



(1&0 Model.) I Q G. GATES. CONGENTRATOR BELT.

N0. 584,501. Patented June 15,1897.

Marine dramas PAT NT @rricn.

GEORGE GATES, OF- JACKSON, CALIFORNIA.

CONCENTRATOR-BELT.

$PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 584,501, dated June 15, 1897. Application filed March 30, 1896- Serial No, 585,372- (N0 model.)

To (all 1071,0727 it puny concern-2' Be it known that I, GEORGE GATES, a citizen. of the United States, residing at Jackson, county of Amador, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Concentrator- Belts; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to an improved concentrating-belt which is especially applicable for the concentration and saving of fine sulfurets and heavy valuable metals from pulverized ores or gangue in which they are conta-ined.

It consists in certain details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a transverse section of a portion of the belt.

These belts are made of various materials. In my present construction I have shown the belt made of rubber with cloth embedded in it in the process of manufacture.

These belts are made of any suitable length and width and are adapted to travel over drums or rollers at opposite ends of the ap paratns, the belts being endless and caused to move in one direction by any suitable mechanism, so that the upper surface of the belt is constantly traveling while the material to be concentrated is delivered upon it with a sufficient quantity of water, and the agitation of the moving belt is such as to separate and concentrate the heavier particles.

In order to prevent the material from discharging over the side edges of the belt during its travel from the upperto the lower end, it is customary to apply raised flanges upon each side of the belt. These flanges have been made in various forms, and a difficulty which arises from many of the forms adopted is on account of the constant stretching caused by the passage of the belt around the rollers and the return to the normal condition when the belt is again moving in a straight line, this constant stretching and relaxation causing cracks and breaks which soon ruin the flanges and necessitate a new belt.

In a patent issued to me April 18, 1893, No. 495,795, I have shown a belt having a flange which in cross-section presents an irregular four-sided polygon, with the base resting upon theedge of the belt, an inclined side extending upwardly and outwardly from the inner edge and forming at the apex an acute angle, with a shorter incline extending downwardly and outwardly therefrom, while the outer edge of the flange stands at right angles with the belt. My present invention is designed as an improvement upon the construction shown in that patent.

In my improvement, A is the belt, made in any usual or well-known manner, but preferably with a body of cloth or fibrous material incased in rubber upon upper and lower sides. The flanges upon each side of the belt are constructed with an inclined side 13, extending upwardly and outwardly from the surface of the belt, forming an obtuse angle at the junction of the flange and belt. From the upper edge or apex a short inclined side 0 extends downward and outwardly, forming with the side B an acute angle at the apex. From the lower and outer edge of the side 0 the third side D of the polygonal flange extends downwardly and inwardly approximately parallel with the inner inclined side B, and the lower edge of this side forms a junction with the bottom of the belt at a point approximately vertically in line beneath the apex formed by the sides B and C. By reason of this construction the apex or thinner portion of the belt between the inclined surfaces B and G will, when subjected to the tension and stretching caused by its passing around the pulleys, not only stretch freely without much lessening the height or changing the form ofthe flange, but will act as a compressing-band for the portion of the flange beneath, and will also yield and move outwardly a little by reason of the tension upon it, without, however, at any time greatly lessening the depth of the flange or turning it to such an extent as to allow the material to flow over the flanges when thus extended. The instant that the belt assumes its straight position again the relaxation allows the flange to assume its normal position.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new,-and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An improved concentrator belt having flanges along its sides, said flanges being of substantially the same thickness throughout and having inner and outer Walls both exthe base of the outer inclined Wall meets the tending upwardly and outwardly from the horizontal bottom line of the belt. 10 body of the belt and joined at their upper In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my limits by short inclined Walls which form with hand.

5 said inner and outer walls, acute angles, GEORGE GATES.

whereby the apex formed by each short Wall Witnesses: and inner inclined Wallis approximately Ver- S. H. NOURSE,

tically in line with a point on the belt Where M. F. BOOTH. 

